ABSTRACT

The letter Brian wrote on 9 July 1909 to the critic of the Yorkshire Post, Herbert Thompson – which surfaces for the first time in Lewis Foreman’s From Parry to Britten: British Music in Letters 1900–1945 (London 1987, pp. 39–41) – is a salutary reminder that we have a great deal still to learn about our composer, and that whole works (and stages in the genesis of works) have vanished from our ken without leaving any trace on the published literary record. After informing Thompson – an influential figure, connected to the committee of the Leeds Festival – of the forthcoming performance of The Vision of Cleopatra in Southport, Brian goes on to speak of two more recent compositions:

I have recently perpetrated a long satirical orchestral work, Humorous Legend on “Three Blind Mice”. My version differs from most others in that I introduce a policeman and the Farmer’s wife to carry on the dramatic idea. It is in three movements & lasts 45 minutes.

1st movement

A

The blind mice

B

The Chase by the farmer’s wife

C

Enter the policeman who

D

Makes Love to Farmer’s Wife (all Caruso)

E

Chase resumed

F

Capture

G

March to the Scaffold, execution. Apotheosis

II

Scherzo – “The Bogey Man”

III

Finale – “Dance of the Farmer s Wife”

I’ve also completed a setting of a poem by Scott for chorus and orchestra. It is in four movements, but without break and this lasts forty minutes.